Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-10-13

|
"you see so much depends upon a first
impression, especially" be added, ''as
observe that there are ladies about. One
at least of US ought to be decently dressed y
We said no more; we were simply dunn
founded, especially when we considered
the artful way in which Good had conceal
ed the contents of that DoX for all these
| months. Only one suggestion did we
make. namely, that he should wear his
mail shirt next his skin. He replied that
| he feared it would spoil the fit OF his coat,
| now carefully spread in the sun to take
the creases out, but finally consented to
| this precautionary measure The most
| amusing part Of the affair, however, was
to see old Umslopogaa5' as1onlshment and
Alphonse's delight at Goods TRANSFORMER
ton. When at last he stood up in all his
glory, even down to the medals on his
breast, and contemplated himself in the
still waters of the lake, after the fashion
| Of the young gentleman in ancient history
whose name [ can't remember, but who
fell in love with his own shadow, the old
Zulu could no longer restrain his feelings
"Oh, Bougwanl'' he said 'sOh, Boug-
wanl always thought thee an ugly little
| man, and fat-fat as the COWS at calving
| tIHIe, dIu NOW tiiCu tIb ike u DlU6 Jay
/ when he spreads his tail out. Surely,
| Bougwan, it hurts my eyes to look at thee
| Good did not much like this allusion to
his Tat, which, to tel the truth, was not
very well deserved, for hard exercise had
brought him down four inches but, on the
whole, he was pleased at Umslopogaas' ad-
niration. AS for Alphonse, he was quite
| delighted
| ''Ah but monsieur has the beautiful air
the air of the warrior. 1t is the ladies
who will say SO when We come to get ashore.
| Monsieur is complete; he puts me in mind
| Of my heroic grand"
| Here we stopped Alphonse.
| AS we gazed upon these beauties thus
| revealed by Good, spirit of emulation
| filled our breasts; and we set to work to
| get ourselves up as well as we could. The
| most, however, that we were able to do
| was to array ourselves in our spare suits
of shooting-clothes of which we each had
| one, keeping on our mail shirts under
meath. AS for my appearance, all the fine
| clothes in the world could never make it
otherwise than scrubby and insignificant;
but Sir Henry looked what he is mag
nificent man, in his nearly new tweed suit,
CATERS, and boots. Alphonse also got him
self up to kill, giving an extra turn to his
enormous mustaches. Even Old Umslopo-
gaas, who was not in general way given
to the vain ado ding of his body, got hold
Of some oil out of the lantern, and a bit of
tow, and polished up his head-rinG with it
till it shone like Goods patent leather
boots. Then he put Oh the mail shirt Sir
Henry had given him, and his s'moocha.''
and, having cleaned up Tnkosikaasi @ lit
tie, stood forth complete
AL this while we had having ho;sted
the sail again rs sooa as we kal bathed,
been progressing steadily for the lanl, o.
rather, fer the mouth OF a great river
Presently-in all about an hour aud Q half
after the little beat had left u3-we saw
emerging from the river, or hafbor, a large
number OF boats, ranging uo to ten or
twelve tons burden. One OF these was
propelled by tWenty-four oars, and most Of
the rest sailed. Looking through the glass
we soon made out that the row-boat was
an official vessel, her crew being all dressed
in a sort OF uniform, whilst on the half
deck forward stood an old man of venera-
bic appearance, with flowing white beard,
and sword strapped to his side, Who was
evidently the commander Of the craft.
The other boats were apparently occupied
By people drawn out of curiosity. an were
rowing or sailing toward US as quickly as
they could.
Now for it." said /. "What is the bet
ting? Are they going to- be friendly or to
put an end to us?"
Nobody could answer this question; and
not liking the warlike appearance of the
old gentleman and his sword, we felt a
little anxious.
Just then Good spied school of hippo
pOtami on the water about two hundred
yards off us, and suggested that 1t would
not be a bad plan to impress the natives
with q sense Of our power by shooting
some of them if possible. This, unluckily
enough, struck us as a good idea; and ac-
cordingly we at once got out our eight-bore
rifles, for which we still had a few cart
ridges left, and prepared for action. There
We're four of the animals; big bull, aicow,
and two young ones, one three parts
grown. We got upto them without diff
Guilty, the great animals contenting them
selves with sinking down into the water,
and rising again few yards farther or;
indeed, their excessive tameness struck
me as being peculiar. When the advanc-
ing boats Were about five hundred yards
away, Sir Henry opened the bail by firing
at the three parts-grown young one. Tie
heavy bullet struck it fair between the
eyes, and, crashing through the skull,
killed it, and it sank, leaving a long train
of blood behind. At the same moment I
fired at the cow, and Goest at the old buzz.
My shot took effect, but not fatally, and
down went the hippopotamus with a pro-
digious splashing, only to rise again pres
emily, blowing and granting furiously,
dyetng all the water round her crimson,
when / killed her with the left barrel.
Good, who is an execrabae shot, missed the
head of the bull altogether, the bullet
merely cutting the side OF his face as it
passed. On glancing UP, after had fired
my second shot, perceived that thu peo-
pie we had fallen among were evidently
ignorant of the nature of firearms, for the
CONSERVATION caused by our shots, and
effect upon the animals, was prodigious.
Some of the parties in the boats began to
cry out with fear: others turned and made
of as hard as they could; and even the Old
gentleman with the sword looked greatly
puzzled and alarmed, and halted his big
row-boat We had, however but little
tiD,, fo,. oTso rxa tion for inst thor, tho OH